the ‘light’ cliché

As the days grow shorter, it is only in a city like this that one walks out of a late seminar, meeting, class onto interestingly lit (and mood enhancing) streets. ‘Interesting’ in that, beyond being the subjects of the ‘City of Light” cliché, there is an attention to detail, deliberate design, and planning of street lighting that has established Paris as a beacon in several regards. A beacon in urban design, certainly. But also something of an interesting case in the creation of a powerful brand and city concept partly based on turning a simple public good, such as street lighting, into an art.

That aside, I am simply grateful that the long, dark nights are robbed of their power to depress by a beautifully, intelligent layout and design of light.

Grateful Graduate is a personal pledge to collect 365 reasons to be grateful for the graduate student experience offered by Paris and London over the course of 2013.